Lead Guitar Archives

Chicken Pickin’ Lick 1 in A

April 11, 2025December 31, 2022 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0215

Here’s a classic country chicken pickin’ lick in the key of A. That first bend with your middle finger is pretty tricky — make sure you bend with your middle finger without bending the 1st and 2nd strings with your pointer/ring fingers. After you learn the chicken pickin’ lick, practice it with the backing track at the end of this video.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Listen to the guitar lick
00:14 min	Lick played twice at slow tempo with TAB
00:55 min	Backing track practice

Woodtone Strings

Muddy Drop D Riff

April 11, 2025July 22, 2022 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0213

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn a “muddy” country guitar riff. To play this riff, you’ll need to tune your guitar to drop D tuning (DADGBE), and check out the pick direction symbols in the TAB as you’re learning the riff.

The guitar in this video is a PRS SE P20 acoustic with a tobacco sunburst finish. Definitely worth checking out this guitar if you’re looking for a nice parlor acoustic. I love the tone and it’s super lightweight and fun to play.

If you like the tone of the strings on this guitar, they’re the new Woodtone nickel-infused acoustic guitar strings!

Hope y’all enjoy the lesson! 🤘🤠🤘

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Listen to the Drop D Riff
00:23 min	Playthrough with Tablature
01:31 min	Full Breakdown of the Riff

Drop D Riff Tablature Woodtone Strings

A Beautiful Slow Western Swing Guitar Solo

April 11, 2025June 20, 2022 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0212

Western swing music began in the dance halls of small towns throughout the lower Great Plains in the late 1920s and early 1930s, growing from house parties and ranch dances where fiddlers and guitarists played for dancers. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Western Swing became very popular as a subgenre of American country music. Over the years, Western swing has been a huge influence on honky-tonk, rockabilly, and country rock. It also popularized the following in country music: use of electrically amplified instruments, use of drums to reinforce a strong backbeat, expanded instrumentation, a “honky tonk beat”, and jazz/blues style solos.

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a slow western swing guitar solo in the key of D. We’ll work through the guitar solo with tablature one line at a time. After you learn the solo, practice along with the Western swing backing track in the key of D. Guitar tablature is available below the lesson video. Hope y’all like this one!

Overview

Playthrough with TAB

Full Breakdown

Member Content

Practice Video

Member Content

Backing Track

Member Content

Western Swing Solo TAB Woodtone Strings

How to End a Bluegrass Song with Style

April 11, 2025June 9, 2022 by Devin

Lesson ID: A0211

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn a fun bluegrass guitar lick in G that you can use at the end of a guitar solo or at the end of an entire song. I use this guitar lick all the time when I’m jamming with friends. It’s a pretty simple lick, and it sounds best over a key of G chord progression that ends with: D – – – D – – – G – – – G – – – (there are a ton of bluegrass songs that end with two bars of D followed by two bars of G).

First we’ll learn the lick with tablature, and then I’ll show you two examples of how you can use this lick. Don’t forget to download the tablature below this lesson video, and check out the Guitar Lick Library for more licks like this one.

Video Start Time	Lesson Topic
00:00 min	Lesson Overview
00:25 min	Playthrough with Tablature
01:39 min	Full Breakdown
05:08 min	Example of a Guitar Solo Using This Lick
06:26 min	Example of Using This Lick to End a Song

Guitar Lick TAB Woodtone Strings